Blasts of splintered wood and flying debris burst through the air as Ali darted across the forest canopy, each explosion sending rubble sailing past Miles's head. From his awkward position flung over Ali's shoulder, Miles could barely comprehend what was happening—his vision spun wildly, tree trunks and sky rotating in dizzying flashes.
"West! Go west!" Miles shouted, his voice breaking through the wind that screamed in his ears.
Ali didn't respond, his jaw tight with focus. His feet barely touched the wide branches before launching off the next, vaulting with inhuman speed and precision. Behind them, waves of magical arrows streaked through the canopy like spectral comets, their green glow pulsing as they adjusted course mid-air to match Ali's trajectory. The Demi-human archers were relentless, tracking with terrifying accuracy down to the millisecond.
Miles's cybernetic eyes flared a sharp neon blue, syncing with one of his aerial drones still circling high above the battlefield. The live feed painted a chaotic tapestry of violence: the monstrous ogre outside the hill roared as it flailed its massive club, its arm ripped apart by a devastating strike from the bull Demi-human's glowing crimson hammer. Blood gushed in torrents—but just as quickly, the ogre's limb regenerated with a revolting squelch of tissue and muscle.
It didn't matter. The bull was winning. Even regeneration couldn't keep up with the raw power he was dishing out.
Further below, chaos ruled the goblin ranks. The shaman and his enhanced warriors were being picked apart, surrounded and pressured by the organised assault of the remaining Demi-humans. The battlefield was shifting—and fast.
'Now's the time,' Miles thought.
'Initiate self-destruct—maximum output.'
The electrical command pulsed from his neural link, received instantly by his drone network.
Nineteen of his twenty drones—silent, deadly sentinels—suddenly changed course. They peeled from the sky like predatory hawks, their outer plating glowing bright red as they dove toward the goblin shaman's position. The last remaining drone stayed high above, giving Miles one final glimpse of what was to come.
The goblin shaman raised his staff at the last moment, eyes wide with confusion. His arcane magic still sparked—but there was no time to act.
VOOOOOOOM
VOOOOOOOM
The air shrieked as the drones ignited. In the blink of an eye—
BOOOOOOOOOOM
BOOOOOOOOOOM
A cataclysm of fire and shockwaves engulfed the shaman's platform. The green-glowing staff shattered into fragments, goblin bodies were vaporised, and ash rained down like black snow. The explosive force tore through the hill's core, and even the surrounding Demi-humans staggered back in disbelief.
For a moment, silence returned.
Then the horned bull Demi-human roared once again and led the final charge against the weakened ogre, swinging his hammer like a divine executioner.
Ali, leaping from one trunk to the next, caught the explosions behind him.
"That was your mission?" he asked, never once breaking his stride.
"Killing the shaman," Miles confirmed. "Reward: 0.3 Vitality."
Ali's eyes narrowed. "You earned it."
"How much further?" he asked, still running at blinding speed. The terrain blurred beneath him—trees became indistinct blurs, their towering forms passing in mere flashes.
"Four kilometres," Miles said, switching his eyes again to the last aerial drone's feed. But before he could relay more, something moved—fast.
A flash of brown streaked through the screen.
In an instant, a female Demi-human leapt upward through the branches. She had long, elegant bunny ears and soft brown hair that trailed behind her like silk. Her amber eyes narrowed as her ears twitched toward the humming drone.
THWACK
She spun in mid-air and lashed out with a powerful kick. The drone exploded into metallic shrapnel before Miles could even blink.
Half a minute later
"Not good," Ali muttered as he finally came to a stop, dropping to the ground and gently lowering Miles.
They stood in a clearing, the sun flickering through the thick canopy above. Everything was still—but Ali's instincts screamed otherwise.
"Take out your fastest unit," Ali said without delay, scanning the treetops for movement. "One that can carry you."
Without hesitation, Miles nodded and opened his inventory. From within, he retrieved a metallic cube streaked with glowing blue circuits. He dropped it to the dirt.
In seconds, the cube unraveled itself into a sleek, human-limbed robot. Blue energy pulsed from its core, thrumming with life. The reactor spun rapidly, emitting a soft mechanical hum.
"Do not stop for anything," Ali instructed firmly. "Use your drones—what's left of them—to scan the forest behind you constantly. If they catch up, don't fight. Just delay them. Keep moving. Keep sending me your location."
Miles absorbed every word, nodding once.
"I'll lead them away. Lose them in the trees."
With that, the robot hoisted Miles onto its back. Then, with a hydraulic hiss and a blast of force, it launched forward—disappearing into the depths of the forest like a streak of silver lightning, leaving behind a smoking crater from the pressure release.
Ali turned back toward the way they'd come, his black eyes narrowed.
The forest had grown silent.
Then it started.
A chorus of rustling leaves, snapping branches, and subtle growls reached his ears.
Tens of footfalls now filled the air—from the ground, from the treetops, from the underbrush. They were fast. And they were getting closer.
Ali exhaled, lowering his stance.
"Now then…" he murmured, a cold grin forming behind his mask.
"Let's play."
POW!
The air trembled as Ali shifted to the side at the last possible second, narrowly avoiding a powerful downward kick that crashed into the earth like a meteor. A small crater formed where her foot struck. Dirt and shattered bark flew upward as Ali skidded back on instinct, using every shred of his Force sense to keep pace.
'She's fast!' Ali thought sharply, his breath tight. His masked eyes met hers—the same bunny-eared Demi-human who had destroyed Miles's drone earlier. Her features were delicate, almost ethereal, but her movements were anything but. She landed like a ghost, light on her feet, and instantly twisted her torso, delivering a spinning side-kick that came at Ali like a battering ram.
Ali's body curved with the motion, avoiding it again by mere inches. But this time, he didn't just dodge.
"Force Push."
His palm snapped forward. A sudden invisible shockwave erupted outward like a cannon blast. The bunny girl's eyes widened—before her body was launched backwards through the trees like a doll caught in a hurricane.
CATCH—BANG!
She didn't hit the trees. Instead, a blur of fur and motion intercepted her. A wolf-man—tall and lean with a battle-worn face—grunted as her body collided with his chest. His heels dragged against the forest floor, carving two deep lines in the earth before his back slammed into a thick trunk with a dull, echoing thud.
"Are you okay?" she gasped, pushing herself up with concern.
"I'll live," he growled, his voice steady but laced with pain. With one hand, he pulled himself up from the base of the tree and clutched his sword tightly. The blade gleamed with an eerie, sky-blue aura as magic coiled around the hilt like smoke. His own irises flickered to the same glowing shade.
"We have to kill the humans. If we don't finish this, the Slavers will come… and then we'll all be hunted down," he warned, eyes fierce with purpose.
"WELL SAID, BROTHER!"
A thunderous shout cracked through the trees like a war drum.
Charging through the underbrush came an even larger wolf-man—easily over seven feet tall. His muscle-bound frame shook the earth with every stride, and in both hands he wielded twin curved blades pulsing with magic. Behind him, the soft patter of footsteps echoed from above as archers leapt effortlessly from branch to branch, their bow already drawn.
Ali's eyes flicked between them all.
'Run.'
Ali turned on his heel and exploded forward, digging his feet into the soft earth. His legs, wrapped in dark veins of pulsing energy, blurred beneath him as he pushed his physical limits. Every muscle fibre screamed as he pushed for more speed, more air, more power. His lungs gulped down massive gusts of oxygen, each breath fuelling the inferno inside his body.
He streaked through the forest like a phantom. With each step, shockwaves burst outward, rattling leaves and shaking loose birds from the canopy.
And yet—it wasn't enough.
The sound of padded feet behind him was growing louder. The Demi-humans were gaining. Despite Ali moving at what should have been superhuman velocity, his pursuers were merely breathing down his neck.
"Stop and face me, coward!" the massive wolf-man bellowed, his voice a guttural challenge echoing through the trees. "Fight me like a warrior!"
Ali's only reply was to run faster. His mind screamed in protest—Stopping now is death. That much was certain. Every instinct screamed that turning to fight would end with his blood painting the trees.
SSSSSSSSSSSSS
A strange hum came from ahead. Ali's eyes shot forward just in time to see a massive shadow coiled between two trees. The noise—the vibration in the air—it was unmistakable.
'Snake!'
A monstrous viper was waiting ahead, its massive body curled and hidden in plain sight. The serpent's mouth opened like a great cavern, lined with rows of dagger-sized teeth. Its body was so wide it could have swallowed a horse—and it was aiming to swallow Ali whole.
Ali didn't stop.
He jumped straight into the gaping mouth.
Behind him, the pursuing Demi-humans skidded to a halt in shock.
"The hell is wrong with him?!" one of them shouted. "Did he… just feed himself to the snake?"
"Maybe he's so scared he killed himself!" another wolf-man barked out with a crude laugh, but even he sounded uncertain.
But the largest of them—their alpha—was not fooled.
"NO, YOU IDIOT!" he roared as he lunged forward. His twin blades surged with blue magic and he struck the snake in a single clean arc.
SLASH!
The viper was cleaved in half before it could even realise what had happened. Its halves crumpled and fell in a thunderous crash. But Ali was nowhere inside it.
The massive wolf warrior paused, his nostrils flaring.
He sniffed once—twice—and his eyes snapped toward the trees.
"THERE," he growled. "He's still running."
The rest of the pack, now realising they'd been deceived, took off again in full pursuit.
Ali sprinted deeper into the woods, weaving between trees with his mind racing and heart pounding. Behind him, the sounds of pursuit had resumed. They were relentless.
'That's another Spirit point gone,' Ali thought grimly. 'Only one left. And they're still gaining…'
His jaw clenched. His plan had bought him a few precious seconds—but not enough. Not nearly enough.
And to make matters worse—his luck was about to take another dive.
——————-
Am I back in my prime?
Please donate some of your power stones, it would help my ff massively.
Five chapters ahead of webnovel on patreon.com/Rondo312